North of Chiang Mai city, in Mae Rim, there is a luxurious Four Season resort. I tried their Thai restaurant for lunch one day during my early 2020 stint in Chiang Mai.
The visit
My driver escorted me to the Four Season resort. It is a 20-30 minute ride from Chiang Mai Nimman area where I was staying.
I descended a staircase to get to the restaurant.
I walked along a long patio to the entrance of the restaurant.
This is also the restaurant where the resort guests have breakfast. On weekends there is a brunch buffet.
Ultimately I settled for a table outside the air-conditioned dining room to enjoy the view.
The resort villas are semi-hidden in the lush vegetation.
The restaurant is Thai, but for lunch they also had a menu with Western dishes. I guess the guests, mostly wealthy American and Japanese, cannot live without a burger time to time.
I had a healthy salad with big pieces of Tasmanian salmon.
And I had a classic Thai dish, pad Thai with prawns.
It came with various sauces and spices.
The two dishes were very good… but… (brace yourself for the next section).
The check
These two dishes and a tea cost me 1647 THB (51 USD). And I am not even counting the transportation costs (other 500-600 THB).
It was simply overpriced. Just good for the wealthy vacationers choosing to spend their time inside the resort. In terms of cost opportunity, it really does not make sense to spend that kind of money for a couple of good but ordinary dishes.
For around that money you can have an afternoon tea for two.
Where in Mae Rim:
502 MOO 1, MAE RIM-SAMOENG OLD ROAD.